Our Story

The Higgins Group Private Brokerage is widely recognized today as one of Connecticut’s premier real estate firms, with nearly 30 years of success, ten offices, and more than 400 dedicated agents. But the story of the Higgins family in real estate reaches back much further—over a century—rooted in resilience, entrepreneurship, and a deep belief in treating people with compassion.

It began in the late 1800s with William F. Higgins, Rick Higgins’ grandfather. The son of an Irish immigrant and longshoreman, William became the family’s primary provider for his 8 siblings and mother at just 12 when his father died of black lung. Forced to leave school, he apprenticed as a plumber and by his early 20s had built the largest plumbing supply company in his part of New Jersey. At 20, he entered real estate, developing the same waterfront where his father once shoveled coal. He also bought the city newspaper—an audacious step for someone with only an eighth-grade education—and earned millions before losing almost everything in the Great Depression. Undeterred, he rebuilt his business while raising nine children alone after his wife’s death from cancer.

William’s son Richard Higgins, Rick’s father, served as a 23-year-old Navy captain in WWII, married June Ellis, graduated from William & Mary, and became a lawyer. Sensing opportunity in northern New Jersey’s underdeveloped areas, Richard teamed up with Navy buddy Chuck Beir to form Beir Higgins, building about 1,000 homes over 35 years and launching a thriving real estate company. Meanwhile, Richard’s brother Bill continued the family’s legacy at William F. Higgins Real Estate and Insurance, later run by Bill’s son, who married real estate mogul and Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran. “Real estate is our middle name,” Barbara says. “From the get-go, it was my idea of Heaven to join the family.”

Rick grew up immersed in this world, spending his teen summers on construction sites, hauling bricks, showing model homes and any other jobs assigned to him. After graduating from Columbia, he joined Beir Higgins Realty while attending law school, then built a successful career as a real estate attorney and luxury home builder, completing 200 homes in New Jersey. When his father fell ill in 1976, Rick put his ambitions on hold to build houses with him. “He was more important than my career,” Rick says. Richard passed away in 1980.

In the late 1990s, Rick and his wife Adele visited his brother Brad in New Canaan, Connecticut, fell in love with Fairfield County and decided to start fresh. Inspired by Barbara, Rick opened The Higgins Group—mirroring The Corcoran Group—at nearly 50, in a community where he knew no one. “It was just me, a chair, a desk, and a phone,” he laughs. But by doing what he did best—connecting with people over real estate—he built something extraordinary. Barbara puts it simply: “Rick is even more talented at building a business with people than with bricks.”

The Higgins Group thrived under his four guiding principles:

1. Family always comes first. Rick never wanted anyone to sacrifice family for work—values he lived when he chose time with his father over his own career growth.
2.   Everyone is equal. No top-agent leaderboards or gold tiers—no one should feel embarrassed or diminished. “It’s why people stay,” says Rick.
   
   
3.   Treat others as you’d like to be treated. A lesson he passed on to his son, Richard IV: “If you do that, you can’t go wrong.”
   
   
4.   Be kind. Buying or selling a home is often intensely emotional. “You never know what someone else is going through, so be patient and kind.”

Today, this philosophy is carried on by Rick’s wife Adele, son Richard IV—now the company’s COO—and daughter Kiera Murphy, who sells homes in Winter Park, Florida. Richard IV is also the youngest executive board member of Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, and Higgins Group proudly represents Forbes Global Properties in Connecticut, giving the firm a powerful global reach.

Rick cherishes working with his family. “I’ve never been happier in my life,” he says. “My son is the most naturally talented young man I’ve ever seen in this business. I know our people will be in great hands for decades to come.”

And while Rick jokes he’ll “never retire—I’d miss everybody too much,” the real heart of the story is how the Higgins family turned real estate into something far bigger: a way to build community, honor relationships, and carry forward a legacy of integrity, kindness, and care. As former President of Realtor.com and friend and Fairfield neighbor Allan Dalton says, “Rick never has to say his brokerage is like a family—everyone who works for him says it for him.” There’s truly no better tribute to the Higgins family’s 125-year story than that.